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Dolphins Talking Points: Did team order Pouncey not to apologize over Hernandez hat?; Tannehill and Wallace ‘a long way to go’

When Dolphins center Mike Pouncey refused to apologize last week over the “Free Hernandez” hats he and his twin brother Maurkice wore at a joint birthday party, it was assumed that Pouncey was making a personal decision to stay silent.

But now it sounds like it was the Dolphins who told Pouncey to stay quiet.

Maurkice Pouncey, Pittsburgh’s starting center, apologized several days after the photos surfaced. The Pounceys were college teammates with Aaron Hernandez, the former Patriots tight end who is in jail facing murder charges.

Maurkice Pouncey told reporters on Friday that while the Steelers wanted him to publicly apologize, the Dolphins went in the opposite direction.

“I talked to Mike, and his team handled this situation a lot different than (the Steelers) did,” Maurkice Pouncey told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I’m sure Mike wanted to apologize, but that’s how they handled it.”

Did the Dolphins hope that ignoring it would end the story? If that’s not it, why else would Miami not want Mike Pouncey to apologize, especially if he wanted to? Pouncey has been receiving a lot of negative PR over this.

Team spokesman Harvey Greene said Saturday night that the Dolphins would stand by Coach Joe Philbin’s comments from a week ago. Philbin was asked about the hat on the first day of training camp. He wouldn’t confirm nor deny that he even spoke to Pouncey, saying only that “it’s important for every member of this organization — players, coaches — to represent the Miami Dolphins in a first-class manner.”

WALLACE AND TANNEHILL HAVE “A LONG WAY TO GO”: No one expected quarterback Ryan Tannehill to develop instant chemistry with new receiver Mike Wallace.

On Saturday Wallace said “we’ve got a long way to go, man.”

So how long is a long way?

Wallace added that “we have a long time to prepare … we’ll be fine.”

Tannehill and Wallace appeared to be clicking at 1-on-1 drills Saturday. But that’s a drill, not a NFL game.

They will have five preseason games to get comfortable with each other although they will see limited action in the exhibitions.

The Dolphins won’t have room for error once the regular season starts. After opening at Cleveland, Miami travels to Indianapolis, plays Atlanta at home, faces New Orleans in a Monday night game on the road and then hosts Baltimore.

The Dolphins better hope that “a long way” isn’t so long that it goes into September.

RIGHT OR LEFT FOR INCOGNITO? Richie Incognito could be Miami’s starting right guard for the first time since 2010. Is that a better position for him?

After spending the last two seasons on the left side, an injury to right guard John Jerry led to Incogntio shifting to right guard and rookie third-round draft choice Dallas Thomas starting at left guard in the last two training camp practices.

Incognito is talking like he could stay at right guard. If Thomas lands a starting job, Tannehill’s blind side could be protected by a rookie guard and second-year tackle who started on the right side last year.

But it could turn out to be a good move for the Dolphins. Thomas was projected as a Top 50 draft choice and the Dolphins landed him at No. 77. Coach Joe Philbin is trying to build a quick, athletic team on both sides of the ball and Thomas could give the team more athleticism on the left side.

ROMO OUT AGAINST DOLPHINS? Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo might not play next week against the Dolphins in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.

“It’s one of those deals where I suppose he could play five plays or whatever, but we might lean to no plays,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett told the Fan 105.3 in Dallas-Ft. Worth. “But the clock starts on our [first-teamers] in Week 2 of the preseason. So that’s not going to be Tony’s game.”

Garrett said he might not play backup Kyle Orton either.

“That’s going to be a Nick Stephens game and an Alex Tanney game,” Garrett told the radio station.

It’ll be interesting to see how much the Dolphins play Tannehill. He clearly needs to develop rhythm with his new receivers and tight ends, but with five preseason games ahead, Tannehill likely won’t play more than a drive or two. It’s going to be a Pat Devlin game and an Aaron Corp game.